Two years after we split up, I was re-acquainted with a former boyfriend from 20 years earlier. Then I moved in with him and we shacked up for 3½ years. During that 3½ years, I did not work for 17 months. We struggled financially, so I was not able to afford a divorce. But I kept praying to God about this predicament, that He would bless me with the resources to resolve it.
Thankfully, my
relationship with the Lord was not strained. The Lord never left me. He did not
seem to be unhappy with me at all. But I prayed about it continually because I
did not want to be living in sin. To add insult to injury, my then common-law
husband was not even in church.
So, let's add this all up. I was legally
married to one man and still going by his last name… shacking up with another
man who was not even in church… and, I was teaching Sunday School at my church most of that time.
Now that's messy!
Throughout all that time, and in all my praying... I continued to feel the presence of the Lord. He anointed my teaching
and elevated my studies. He told me to accept His grace for His grace was sufficient to cover my frailties.
My
first husband graciously paid for our divorce himself, and my common-law husband
and I went to the courthouse and got legally married. And we have been a
happily married couple since 2014.
Think what you may about my shameful actions, but you
cannot take away my experiences with God. He loved me through it all, and never
dismissed me, nor turned His back on me, even though I was caught up in blatant sin for an extended period of time.
In conclusion, God's gift to mankind is His
love. And His love never fails. Prophecies may fail, tongues will cease,
knowledge will vanish away... but God's love will never, ever fail.
To God be the glory.
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove